Why Developers Love React Web Framework & Why it’s Worth Learning Right Now

In 2011, a Facebook software engineer named Jordan Walke created React.js (also known as ReactJS or referred to simply as “React”) and developed it with his team to address the company’s need for a high-performing and dynamic user Interface (UI). Fast forward to today – React surpassed jQuery as the most commonly used web framework in Stack Overflow’s latest annual Developer SurveyOpens a new window and was cited as the most “wanted, desired” by one in four developers. So, what’s the X-factor that makes React.js so popular with organizations and among the coding community?

To see why more and more developers want to work with React.js (whether they’re just getting started or sticking with it for the long haul), it helps to understand what React.js is and how it can be used to make applications more dynamic and build responsive, animated websites.

React.js: The (Not-so) Secret Sauce for Making a “Bomb.com” UI 

Websites are the front door to online businesses. As such, their user experience must be intuitive, relevant, and responsive. In many cases, a webpage will have merely seconds to engage a visitor – which is why pages that take too long to load, don’t respond quickly to user actions or are inefficiently designed, often result in lost opportunity for businesses.

React.js offers a more intuitive way to build dynamic web pages to combat this. While it’s widely known as an open-source JavaScript library for developing UIs, React.js is just advanced-level JavaScript at its core. 

Several defining capabilities and advantages distinguish React.js from similar frameworks and have established it as the most widely adopted library for front-end app development. Here are five of those core competencies:

• Components: The basic building blocks of React.js. Developers create small, reusable, independent components that each have their own sets of properties and functions and can be combined to form larger UI parts.
• JSX: An HTML-like markup language for React.js that produces React elements. It lets developers describe the UI using a mixture of HTML and JavaScript. This accelerates development time by converting HTML tags (such as <h1>) into React elements.
• React Elements: The smallest building blocks of React.js. Components return React elements (or other components) that describe what should appear on the page.
• Example: const element =<h1>Hello World!</h1> 
• Note: This React element isn’t a string or an HTML element. It’s JSX that will be converted to JavaScript and displayed on the DOM.
• Virtual DOM (Document Object Model): A light-weight version of the actual DOM. The Virtual DOM compares the current Virtual DOM tree to the new Virtual DOM tree and only updates what’s changed. Then, the process of reconciliation occurs to update the actual DOM.
• Actual DOM: An API that allows JavaScript to manipulate the document (webpage). React.js will batch changes so that multiple changes can be made at the same time for efficiency.

React components are like JavaScript functions conceptually. They can take an input and return React elements to render a part of the UI. This can be done using either functions or classes.

Following is an example of a function component, in which ‘Greetings’ is a custom component that returns the React element <h1>Hello World!</h1>.

const Greetings = () => <h1>Hello World!</h1>;

Components can also be reused in other projects or throughout a single application. Adding a PayPal button to a website’s checkout page, for instance. First, the React-paypal-js library is installed from the node package manager (npm). Then, the PayPal components are imported into the website. In the context of this example there are two custom components being put into play: <PayPalScriptProvider /> and <PayPalButtons />.

Using numerous components with their logic and controls makes the code reusable and easier to maintain (e.g., debugging is more accessible), which helps to speed up the overall development process dramatically. The Virtual DOM adds efficiency by better managing updates to the actual DOM – enhancing the UI in turn, as the whole webpage doesn’t need to be re-rendered any time, even just one element changes.

How React.js is Used to Make Websites More Dynamic, Responsive & Animated

React.js apps are Single Page Applications (SPAs) where one page locally downloads all front-end code for the website (e.g., HTML, CSS, JS). When switching views, SPAs intelligently handle front-end rendering, making minimal requests to the web server and re-rendering only what’s changed. This is much faster due to fewer server requests.

SPAs don’t use the traditional browser navigation of going to different HTML pages for each view. Actions such as clicking on links to render different views, using back/forward buttons for browser history, breadcrumbs, etc., are more complex. React-Router, a popular React.js library, is commonly used to handle navigation in a React.js app.

Before developing a new custom component, developers should first search the vast list of existing React.js libraries. They might find someone who has already created exactly what they’re looking for. Representing only a very small, bite size sample of that massive menu, here are seven examples of existing React.js libraries:

1. Material UI (MUI) has multiple React.js components, such as sliders, drop-down menus, and navigational tools.
2. Redux is an application state management library. As a predictable state container for JavaScript apps (not just React), it holds a single state object tree containing the entire application’s whole state as objects within a tree.
3. React Router handles navigation in a React.js app.
4. React Bootstrap is bootstrap for React.js apps. It includes customizable responsive components and allows developers to create their own components.
5. Reactstrap is a react component library for bootstrap styling that includes pre-built components.
6. Formik is a library that provides an API for building and managing forms in React.js. 
7. React-Spring and tsParticles are libraries that handle animation needs such as motion and animated backgrounds.

See More: Java Virtual Machine: Behind the Code

The React Factor

Today, React.js development is still led by a lean, dedicated team at Facebook. Only now, a little over a decade since Jordan Walke cooked up the first React JS library and served it to the public, it’s also supported by more than a thousand open-source contributors from around the world. 

The proof is clearly in the pudding, and there are countless reasons why developers are so hungry to work with React.js. For many, it comes down to the fact that React.js handles a lot of the work behind the scenes – allowing them to focus on the look and behavior of the UI itself.

Those who have whet their appetite for React.js and are interested in learning absolutely should. here’s never been a better time. As the most popular JavaScript library for developing efficient online applications, React.js simplifies the creation of modern web experiences that users and employers alike will love. Learning how to code in React.js is a terrific time investment for any aspiring front-end web or mobile developer. Plus, a resume highlighting a skill-ready knowledge of React.js in the tech job market has a significant competitive advantage.  

Tips for learning React.js:

1. Start with JavaScript. Having that foundation will help with learning React.js.
2. Seasoned developers can use many online resources to learn React.js.
3. But for new developers, self-teaching can be tough. Developers should consider their preferred learning style. If they’d like to have an instructor and other students to collaborate with, there are resources available. Online bootcamps have become increasingly popular.
4. Developers don’t have to go it alone. Join online communities or offline meetup groups to exchange ideas and problem solve together.
5. Tap into the very active and supportive React.js community.

Do you think it’s worth learning React web framework today? How it can help developers? Tell us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!

MORE ON PROGRAMMING

• National Coding Week 2020 — Experts Discuss the Importance of Coding
• 5 Simple Rules for Managing Software Development Remotely
• Java for Big Data – Why To Learn and Where to Start
• Does Your Team Know How To Write SQL? If Not, It’s Time They Learned